No Second Chances Ex-husband (Lauren and Ethan) novel Chapter 142

LAUREN’S POV

I suddenly opened my eyes and found myself standing on a beach For a moment, Lcouldn’t tell if I was dreaming or if this was real. The air was soft and hinnid, carrying that salty tang that always came from the ocean. I could hear the gentle roar of the waves rolling toward the shore, crashing and retreating like a heartbeat steady, rhythmic, endless.

When I turned my head to the right, my breath caught for a second. I knew this place. The way the horizon stretched endlessly, the cluster of rocks near the shore, the palm trees tilted slightly as if bowing to the wind, it was all too familiar. This was chr spot. Ethan and I used to come to this exact stretch of beach every weekend back when things were simple. Back when love hadn’t turned bitter and complicated.

A faint smile curved on my lips. It was strange how vivid everything felt, the sand was warm beneath my bare feet, the sunlight bright but not harsh. I almost believed I was really there. Ethan and I had once talked about buying this beach from the government when he had made enough money. He’d said, “It’ll be ours babes, no noise, no people, just peace,” I had believed him. Maybe that was why this place felt so peaceful now like my mind had recreated the one space where things had once made

sense.

haled softly, shoulders relaxing, allowing the nostalgia to wrap around me. But then something changed. I felt a hand warm and steady slip into mine.

My head turned sharply.

Roman.

My brows furrowed. What was Roman doing here? How did he even find this place? He wasn’t supposed to know about it. This had always been mine and Ethan’s escape, a sacred little piece of memory I’d never shared with anyone else.

—

He stood beside me, shirtless, the sunlight glinting off his skin. His expression was calm but unreadable, like he belonged here, like this was normal. My eyes lingered on him longer than they should have his shoulders broad, his chest defined, his stance confident but soft at the same time. I hated how my chest tightened, how for a fleeting second I couldn’t look away.

Before I could even say anything, I felt another touch, a hand on my other side, closing gently around my free hand. I turned, startled, and froze.

Ethan.

He was standing right there beside me, wearing that familiar half–smile, the one that once made my heart melt. But there was something eerie about it now. His eyes held no regret, no pain, no memory of the damage he’d caused. Just calm. As if the past hadn’t happened at all.

I pulled my hand out of his grasp, the movement instinctive. The moment I did, his smile faltered, fading away slowly like the tide pulling back from the shore. A strange sadness flickered in his eyes, but I didn’t let myself dwell on it.

Then I noticed movement, two small figures running toward us. They were blurry at first, their outlines blending with the brightness of the sand. My breath caught again as they came closer. My heart began to pound in my chest.

It couldn’t be.

“Elena… Aria…” I whispered or tried to. My lips moved, but my voice came out soundless. Still, I knew it was them. My daughters. Their faces clear as day now, their laughter light and pure, echoing through the salty breeze.

But something about the way they moved felt off. Aria ran straight to Roman, her little arms wrapping tightly around his leg as she looked up at him like he was her world. Elena, on the other hand, ran toward Ethan, smiling with so much innocence it alinost broke me but before she could even touch him, Ethan shoved her away.

I gasped, or at least I thought I did. My voice refused to come out. Elena fell into the sand, her tiny hands scraping against the grains. Ethan just stood there, staring blankly, like he didn’t care.

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CHAPTER 0142

+25 BONUS

My chest constricted. I tried to scream, to yell, to ask what the hell was going on but no sound came. I clutched my throat, panie rising as I kept trying to speak, but it was useless. My voice was gone. My body fell frozen, paralyzed try confusion and fear.

And then I heard it, faint at first, like a sound coming from somewhere far away.

A ringing.

It grew louder. Familiar.

The beach began to fade

–

the ocean, the sand, the people dissolving like smoke,

And then, my eyes jolted open as it fully hit me that I was just dreaming.

I ran my hand over my face, “God,” I whispered softly, letting out a shaky sigh. I rubbed my temples and sat up fully, the details of the dream replaying in my mind – Roman’s touch, Ethan’s smile, the girls running, the silence in my throat.

“Great,” I muttered, letting out a humorless chuckle. “Now I’m dreaming about Roman.”

I brushed my hair back from my face, fingers tangling through the messy strands. The more I thought out it, the stranger it felt. Why had I imagined Roman shirtless? Of all the ways to dream about someone, why that? My lips twitched in irritation. “Is that something I secretly want to see again?” I mumbled, shaking my head quickly. “No. No, I can’t even think about that right How ”

But then, Ethan appeared in the same dream too and the way he shoved Elena to the ground… what was that supposed to mean? Was it my subconscious telling me something? Or was my brain just torturing me for fun?

I sighed and turned to the clock on my bedside table. It was almost time to take Aria to school. Wonderful, barely sunrise, and I already felt mentally drained.

The doorbell rang.

I blinked, confused. For a second, I thought it was still part of my dream again that faint ringing sound I’d heard before waking up. But no. It was real this time, echoing faintly from the hallway.

“Who on earth comes visiting this early?” I murmured under my breath, groaning softly as I reached for my tablet on the

nightstand.

The screen lit

Seriously?

up,

and I tapped into the security app connected to the front gate’s camera.

“Roman?” I said aloud, disbelief dripping from my voice.

There he was standing right at my gate. In the dim gray light of dawn,

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